Officials take ‘proactive’ step in hiring firm that assisted San Bernardino, Stockton

May 18, 2014 12:05 PM BROOKE SELF, STAFF WRITER

ADELANTO • The Adelanto City Council voted 4-1 this week to approve a contract with municipal consultants Urban Futures, Inc., in what one official called a “proactive” step to avoiding a bankruptcy filing.

“They’ve worked with San Bernardino; unfortunately they came in after their filing of bankruptcy and (worked on) how to reshape,” said Interim Finance Director Onyx Jones. “They’ve also worked with the city of Stockton, so they know the ins and outs of the bankruptcy process. We’re being proactive in that we don’t want to file bankruptcy.”

Jones said UFI would create a fiscal plan spanning five to 10 years in two to four months’ time, including some suggestions city officials “had not yet thought about.” Adelanto first declared a fiscal emergency in June 2013 and the city is currently operating at a $2.6 million deficit.

Jones called the $30,000 price tag of the contract with UFI “extremely reasonable for what we hope to get from it, which is to not file bankruptcy and to not pay a lot of fees that get incurred through the bankruptcy process.”